The news
that Alison Wrigley Rusack and her husband, Geoff, are about to launch the
first ever wines grown on Santa Catalina Island is fresh off the press. After all, their debut release – an
island-grown chardonnay, pinot noir and zinfandel from the 2009 vintage – is
just months away (and has many serious wine drinkers on a growing waiting list
on pins and needles). But in some ways,
this story really began close to 30 years ago.

“Alison and
I had just started dating and I remember we were riding horseback along a
ridge, looking out to the ocean,” recalls Mr. Rusack. He pauses to gaze out the window of his
private plane as, 45 minutes after taking off from its Santa Barbara Municipal
Airport home base, it begins its descent toward a rural runway on Catalina; three
neatly manicured vineyards are coming into view through the parting
clouds. “And we said to ourselves,
‘Wouldn’t it be neat to have vineyards here one day and make wine?’”

Quite the
prophetic notion, it turns out.

But many
years would go by before their romantic conception would become reality. The Rusacks married in 1985 and settled in
Los Angeles, where she developed consumer products for Disney and he worked as
an aviation law attorney. They made the pastoral
leap to Ballard Canyon in the early 90s and, before long, the vintner bug
bit. Rusack Vineyards and Winery was
established in 1995; the doors to its tasting room opened two years later. And today, thanks in large part to the
talented stewardship by winemakers John and Helen Falcone, the brand is
synonymous with some of the best Rhone and Burgundian wines in Santa Barbara
County.

There’s
always been that connection to Santa Catalina Island, though. Anchored 22 miles off the Southern California
coast, it’s the third largest isle on the Channel Island chain and the only one
that’s privately owned. And that’s where
Mrs. Rusack -- and her pedigree – feature prominently.

William
Wrigley, Jr., her great-grandfather, is easily one of the great businessmen in
American history. He founded the Wrigley
Company in the 1890s and would go on to make a fortune selling wildly popular
brands of chewing gum to the American public.
In the decades that followed, he’d own the Chicago Cubs baseball team;
their historic hometown ballpark was named in his honor. And he’d own the luxury, landmark Arizona
Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

But a significant
chapter of his legacy is what he did for Santa Catalina. He joined investors in the 75-square-mile
island in 1915 – they were the Santa Catalina Island Company – and, four years
later, bought them out to own it outright.
In the years that followed, the made major improvements, such as revamping
water systems and public utilities, and developing real estate, which included
building the island’s iconic Casino building.
He also founded a company that used local clay to make glazed tiles and
house wares which, today, command big money from collectors. And he regularly hosted his Cubs for spring
training on Catalina, on a custom diamond he called “Field of Dreams.”

The Wrigley
generations that have followed have continued the legacy of enhancing the
island. Son Philip (also a baseball
buff, whose creation of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was
depicted in the 1992 Tom Hanks film, A League of Their Own) created the Santa
Catalina Island Conservancy and deeded 88% of the island – to the tune of 42,000
acres – to it. One percent of what
remained is held, to this day, by private individuals, mainly longtime shop and
home owners. The other 11% is managed by
the Santa Catalina Island Company, which Philip’s son, William, inherited; when
he died in 1999, controlling shares in that company went to his daughter.

That
daughter is Alison Wrigley Rusack.

Today, she
and husband Geoff have taken the reigns in restoring the Company’s stake on the
island. That includes much of the
tourism attractions on Avalon, Catalina’s main town and, for years now, a
popular daytrip for Southern Californians.
“We’re primarily a real estate company,” says Mr. Rusack, referring to their
three hotels and three restaurants in Avalon, including the much buzzed-about
Avalon Grille. The Company also manages
several new tourist-friendly attractions – including semi-submersible boats,
fly-fishing outposts and a 4000-foot zip-line – and general stores on the
resort town of Two Harbors, which is popular with leisure boaters.

But the most
important part of the Company’s portfolio, if for nothing more than sentimental
reasons, is El Rancho Escondido, or The Hidden Ranch. The rustic property was founded by
grandfather Philip as a training ground for the Wrigley family’s Arabian horses,
which were, for years, shown throughout the United States. Until recently, and for some 70 years, the
property was open to the public and became an effective attraction to get
visitors off the beach and into the island’s unspoiled interior which, to this
day, is marked by rocky roads, meandering canyons and wildlife. Breeds of foxes, quail and shrews unique to
the island are still readily spotted, as are more than 200 bison which were
brought in as extras for a movie back in the 1920s and which, today, are
allowed to roam free. Native mahogany
and ironwood trees dot the landscape.

The ranch is
now closed, as the Rusacks begin the process of restructuring the property into
what will one day reopen as “a spectacular visitors’ center,” says Mr. Rusack
as he takes the News-Press on an exclusive tour. “We’re envisioning this as a destination for
weddings, concerts and corporate events.”

The
property’s stable still houses expertly maintained carriages that, decades ago,
would whisk VIP guests in from Avalon, as well as hand-crafted silver saddles
owned by generations of Wrigleys.
Numerous black and white photos depict the family’s history; some,
dating back to the late 1940s, show the Wrigley family arriving on the island for
visits aboard their private DC-3. And an
old ranch house still abuts the stable; it’s home to dozens more old photos
(one shows Phil Wrigley making music alongside Walt Disney), various
taxidermied catches and a bathroom done entirely in that coveted Catalina tile.

But the most
exciting part of the Rusacks’ project may be what Mr. Rusack animatedly
outlines in pantomime fashion as he exits the stable. “Here, here’s where we’ll put a winery,” he
declares. “And here, a tasting room with
a deck,” pointing to a plot overlooking the ocean in the distance and -- and
this is where the project’s uniqueness is most evident – a beautifully
manicured vineyard in full bloom.

Prophetic
notion fulfilled.

The Rusacks
began to explore in earnest the idea of planting grapevines on Catalina Island
in 2002. They flew in experts from as
far away as Australia to help study things like soil conditions and climate. On the soil front, the initial news was not
good; unrelenting ocean exposure had resulted in the presence of boron and,
mainly, salt at significant levels. The
Rusacks would go on to do intensive soil flushing and rinsing; they would also
plant vines at elevated heights to promote water flow, build a sophisticated
drain system under each vineyard row and install a drip irrigation system.

At first,
they considered planting syrah, a varietal with which they’d already had great
success on the mainland, in Santa Barbara County. “But all the data that was coming back was
telling us that the conditions were so good for Bungundian grapes, that pinot
noir and chardonnay became a no-brainer,” says Rusack.

In 2004, Mr.
Rusack and two of their sons, Parker and Austin, flew out to neighboring Santa
Cruz Island to hand-pick rugged grapevines that had long been growing
wild. Nature protection groups on both
islands already enjoyed a collaborative relationship in myriad species recovery
and environmental restoration projects, so when the Rusacks requested access to
the vines, the Nature Conservancy’s Santa Cruz Island project “was happy to do
so,” explains Rusack. Cuttings were sent
to UC Davis, where two grape varieties were identified: Mission and
zinfandel. The former enjoys little
caché in the wine business, but the Rusacks made the call with little
hesitation to include the newly discovered zin in their budding Catalina wine
project.

In March of
2007, the Rusacks, themselves, joined members of Buellton-based Coast Vineyard
Care in planting the very first vineyards on Santa Catalina Island: one acre of
zinfandel, two acres of chardonnay and three acres of pinot noir; the pinot
vineyard was quickly dubbed the “View Block” for the generous glimpse of ocean
it offers.

It’s unusual
to see pinot noir and chardonnay, which thrive in cooler environments, planted
in such close proximity to the warmer-weather zinfandel. “But we have the zin on a south facing
slope,” says winemaker John Falcone, “and it’s amazing to see how different the
conditions there can be. It works!”

Falcone has
two digital weather stations positioned throughout the vineyards, which he can
check electronically even from the comfort of his Ballard Canyon home. During harvest season, he flies out to
Catalina at least weekly to check on growing conditions; usually, he tags along
on flights aboard the Rusacks’ personal plane that are already carrying other
employees on important family business.
When the grapes are harvested, they are transported to Catalina’s
Airport in the Sky (it sits at an elevation of 1600 feet above sea level), packed
inside oversized bins and loaded on a jet engine Cessna Caravan that’s been
outfitted as a cargo plane. They arrive,
often in the early morning hours, at the Santa Ynez Airport, before being
trucked to the Rusack Vineyards winemaking facility. “I’ve never had grapes arrive by plane
before,” admits Falcone with a chuckle.

The first
harvest from the new vines took place in autumn of 2009. There were, naturally, several challenges;
among them, vastly different yields between the varietals and uneven bud break
on the zinfandel. “That’s common with
zin,” says Falcone, “but here, it was definitely exacerbated.” The 2010 yields were considerably smaller,
due in large part to an unforeseen infestation by tens of thousands of yellow
jackets. The harvest for 2011 is going
on now; no buzzers have been spotted in the horizon.

“When we
planted, we really didn’t know what to expect,” admits Rusack as he meanders
through the vines, inspecting grape clusters quickly nearing pick-ready
conditions. “But what’s really great to
see now is how healthy the vines look.”

The 2009 debut
crop resulted in 265 cases of chardonnay, 125 cases of pinot noir and just 60
cases of zinfandel. A very small
production for a truly unique wine project.
Real wine merits aside, these are bottlings that are, naturally, already
generating buzz among the wine curious; prices are still being set and a
waiting list is growing quickly for exclusive allocations of the first ever Santa
Catalina Island Vineyards releases within a few months. (You can find more information and join the
waiting list at www.catalinaislandvineyards.com.)

But novelty
aside, these wines are remarkably noteworthy and decidedly distinct. “They were made the same way we make the
Rusack wines” that use Santa Barbara County fruit, says Falcone, “but they are
very different.” What the industry
defines as the expression of terroir
– how a sense of place translates to flavor in the bottle – may be especially
alive here. The chardonnay is rich and
tropical on the nose, with great acidity in the mouth. The pinot noir is especially unique, with
dark, earthy aromas but delicate red fruit flavors. And the zinfandel displays wonderful
elegance, generous in fruit and refreshingly lower in alcohol than many popular
California zins.

Distinctiveness
is allowing the Rusacks to find real thrill in what started as an experiment
and bona fide leap of faith. For
Falcone, the project has balanced a fair share of anxiety-producing unknowns
with the type of professional satisfaction that may only come from doing
something truly special. “We’re making
wine – really good wine -- in a spot in the world where no one else has ever
done it before,” he says as he swings shut the gates to the vineyard than have
been erected to ward off wandering bison.
“And that’s pretty cool.”

And so, with
the investment and commitment of another generation, the Wrigley legacy
continues.

About Me

Welcome to the online home of Gabe Saglie. Gabe is Senior Editor for Travelzoo and a respected travel contributor for dozens of TV news programs and national shows. Gabe is also a longtime wine and food writer based in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, two boys and daughter.